After we reported on big toe massages at the Toe Jam Institute, the Mirth Manual investigative team wanted a deeper dive into other toe issues.

Many people talk about Crossing Fingers and toes. They are wishing for a good outcome. But well-wishing aside, we wondered if there is a protocol to crossing fingers and toes. Should the toes ever be crossed first? Should toes only be crossed as a backup when fingers are not available? Needing an expert, we contacted Dr. Mica Phalange, D.O., podiatrist at Toe Spring Clinic in Little Rock, AR.

“There’s a lot of good reasons to cross your fingers first. For example, if you’ve had recent toe surgery, cross your fingers first. If you want to conceal your finger crossing, cross your toes. I am piloting a study to address the sequence of crossing fingers and toes.” says Dr. Phalange.

Dr. Phalange’s clinical trial, SWEC-TAF, (Should We Cross Toes After Fingers) is a multicenter crossover randomized, controlled trial designed to answer if there is any statistically significant advantage to crossing fingers before toes.

“The SWEC-TAF trial is groundbreaking. Of course, the null hypothesis says crossing fingers first has no advantage over toes first. But the trial will tease out the nuances. My team will look at crossing fingers before toes and toes before fingers versus fingers alone and toes alone.” says Dr. Phalange.

For the toe-crossing enthusiast, you may wonder which toes to cross first. Dr. Phalange recommends crossing the second toe over the big toe, especially if you have Morton’s toe. Morton’s toe occurs when the second toe is longer than the big toe.

When considering simplicity, in most cases, it’s more convenient to cross fingers. And toe crossing is tougher when someone is wearing shoes with a narrow toe box. SWEC-TAF sounds exciting. Hopefully this study will turn out to be as toe pleasing as the toe massages at the Toe Jam institute. We’ll follow the study’s progress.